Heller Drops Out Before Officially Getting In

Dick Heller, who successfully challenged the District of Columbia's gun ban in the U.S. Supreme Court, won't be running for DC Delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives after all.

The plaintiff in the lawsuit that overturned the District's gun ban had been flirting with a run against Eleanor Holmes Norton, but decided yesterday not to go forward with it.

"This race would have been a complicating factor" with the negotiations regarding his own gun ownership and the new lawsuit that he filed in response to the District's new gun laws, which he felt didn't comply with the Supreme Court's decision, said Bradley Jansen, who until today was Heller's campaign manager.

A home renovation has also kept Heller reluctant to run. "I was thinking about it yesterday as they were tearing down half my house," Heller said.

Power saws and construction noise could be heard yesterday in a call to Heller's home.

Did Heller have enough signatures to get on the ballot in the first place?

His campaign manager wasn't certain. "I don't know offhand," Jansen said. "We had a very dispersed group of volunteers that were going out independently."

The move leaves Damien Ober as the only Libertarian running for local office in the coming elections. Ober has already filed petitions to get on the ballot.

Today is the deadline to file those petitions for many of the general election races, so other potential candidates may drop out by the end of the evening.

I love Norton and will be voting for her in the fall. However, the Distict and her candidacy could have probably been served better with a challenger.
It would force her and her campaign to take to the streets in a way she probably has not. She probably would have no real opposition but it would have brought her to the streets and to meet her new constituents who probably don't know her name.